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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to computer program management in a distributed environment, and more particularly to a job monitor for monitoring from a workstation a computer program executing on a host system.
2. Description of the Related Art
A user such as a programmer developing a computer program on a host system may access and communicate with the host system from a host attached terminal or a workstation emulating such a host attached terminal. The user typically develops the program in a development cycle that includes edit, compile, job status check, and test. By using a host-based job monitor, the user may check the status of the job to estimate the time until completion, ensure execution is not blocked, check return codes, view output, or other associated tasks. Although the host-based job monitor can notify the user when a job is complete, the notification typically is not received until the user causes an interrupt to the host system. Such an interrupt may be caused by the user pressing an enter or return key on the terminal or workstation keyboard while viewing a job queue.
Another way that the user may develop the computer program for the host system is Remote Edit/Compile/Debug which provides a workstation-based environment for performing the edit, compile, and debug tasks associated with host application development. Application parts, such as COBOL source code, COBOL copy books, and host JCL, are kept in partitioned datasets (PDS) or partitioned datasets extended (PDSE) on the host. These files may be accessed and used through a project, such as an IBM(copyright) Multiple Virtual Storage (MVS(copyright)) project (IBM(copyright) and MVS(copyright) are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.). The Remote Edit/Compile/Debug user also needs the job monitor capability. However, the user typically uses either the host-based job monitor or a host-like character interface logged into the host system to obtain the desired job monitoring capability.
While the above job monitoring capabilities may provide job monitoring, they may do so while also providing problems such as performance, usability, integration, and functionality problems. In particular, the increased overhead of workstation-based interfaces logging in to the host system may result in a performance degradation compared to the host-based job monitor. The usability of such non-graphical user interfaces in a graphical user interface based workstation environment may be decreased and suffer from inconsistencies. For example, integration of the non-graphical user interfaces into the workstation environment may be more difficult or providing additional functionality in such a non-graphical user interface may be more difficult.
Thus, there is a clearly felt need for a method of, system for, and computer program product for providing an improved job monitor for monitoring from a workstation a computer program executing on a host system.
The present invention comprises a method, system, and article of manufacture for monitoring a job executing on a remote host system from a local workstation by use of a graphical user interface which displays a tree view of the system, a queue within the system, a job within the queue, and a file related to the job. The method comprises the steps of: displaying a tree view; displaying a first level of the tree, the first level comprising one or more system nodes, each system node representing a host system; displaying a second level of the tree, the second level comprising one or more job queue nodes, each job queue node branching below a system node representing a job queue in the host system corresponding to the system node; and displaying a third level of the tree, the third level comprising one or more job nodes, each job node branching below a job queue node representing a job in the job queue corresponding to the job queue node.
One aspect of a preferred embodiment of the present invention connects to the host system corresponding to a selected node in response to selecting the selected node.
Another aspect of a preferred embodiment of the present invention displays the tree view in a first portion of a display; and displays in a second portion of the display a table view based on the currently selected node in the tree view wherein the fields that are displayed depend on the type of the selected node.
Another aspect of a preferred embodiment of the present invention displays in the table view a system nickname, address, and user ID corresponding to a selected system node if the selected node is a system node.
Another aspect of a preferred embodiment of the present invention displays a queue table view if the selected node is a job queue node.
Another aspect of a preferred embodiment of the present invention displays a job table view if the selected node is a job node.
Another aspect of a preferred embodiment of the present invention allows the selected node to be viewed, canceled, released, or purged if the selected node is a job node.
Another aspect of a preferred embodiment of the present invention filters the information displayed in the table view by a filter selected from the group comprising a default filter and a user specified filter.
Another aspect of a preferred embodiment of the present invention displays a system node corresponding to an entry in a system metadata file.
Another aspect of a preferred embodiment of the present invention encodes the system metadata file in Extensible Markup Language (XML).
The present invention has the advantage of providing an improved user interface for a job monitor.
The present invention has the further advantage of providing improved usability in a user interface for a job monitor.
The present invention has the further advantage of providing improved integration in a user interface for a job monitor.
The present invention has the further advantage of providing improved functionality in a graphical user interface for a job monitor.